Existing wireless system architectural configurations impose stringent constraints on the system designer with regards to transmitting communication signals. Moreover, such configurations often provide low reliability communication links, high operating costs, and an undesirably low level of integration with other system components.
In the radio frequency (RF) section of a conventional low-cost wireless transmitter configured with analog components, a considerable level of distortion occurs when RF signals are processed. Higher cost components with better distortion characteristics that enhance signal quality may be overlooked during the design phase in order to reduce the cost of the end-product.
For example, a common problem associated with conventional wireless communication systems is that the characteristics of a power amplifier (PA) which outputs amplified communication signals from an analog radio transmitter, may not have linear characteristics throughout its operating range, and/or may cause the phase of the communication signals to change.
Because the costs of components that process RF analog signals are higher than the components that use DSP, it is desired to provide a digital baseband (DBB) system, including a low cost transmitter with low noise and minimal power requirements, that utilizes DSP techniques to provide compensation for amplitude and phase impairments caused by the PA of an analog radio transmitter.